In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of avoiding the sins of the seventh commandment. He shares rules suggested by an old Archbishop of Glasgow to help young people stay free from the dangers of these sins. The rules include being sober and temperate in diet, being modest and circumspect in behavior, and guarding one's ears and eyes. The preacher also references Romans Chapter 1, highlighting the consequences of ungodliness and unrighteousness. He encourages seeking a change of heart, embracing holiness and purity, and living with the awareness of God's presence in all actions and thoughts. The sermon concludes with the preacher emphasizing that behind every commandment of God is His glory and the good of mankind.

Tonight, I want to speak on the seventh commandment, some things about it. Before we do, I'd like to read it, and before we read it, I'd like to just have us bow our heads and our hearts in a word of prayer. Let us pray. Our Father, which art in heaven, we bow our heads before thee, and we pray that thou would assist us to bow our hearts before thee as well. O Lord, as we would seek to walk a very narrow edge tonight, we ask especially, blessed Father, that you'd be pleased to send your Spirit to sanctify our efforts as we speak and sanctify to the hearing and to the prophet of those who hear. We pray thee, send thy Spirit. We calm as little babies asking that thou would be pleased to assist us. Take the wax from our ears. Take the dust of this world from our eyes that we might behold the beauty of thy salvation as it's manifest in Christ. And O Lord, tonight as we consider this, one of thy great precepts, thy laws, we pray, in our day when it's so present that homes and lives and children are wrecked because of open rebellion against this, thy clear teaching, we need more especially, Father, to cry out, send thy Spirit. Send thy Spirit to assist us. For Jesus' sake, amen. Seventh Commandment. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Now, I don't believe, I believe that we're meant to preach and every Bible preacher would say that he desires to preach the whole counsel of God. And I don't know how we can preach the whole counsel of God. A preacher can stand in the pulpit year after year and neglect some of these weighty things that's so affecting our generation. And I don't think that we can assign by our silence these holy themes such as we're going to look at tonight to the poets and to the carnal novelists and to Hollywood and the godless professors and the clergy that has betrayed the Bible and its standards or to the apostate sleeping church that has Ichabod written all over its doors. I don't think we can assign these holy themes to such people. Young people, I want to say tonight at the outset, I'm glad you're here. Especially I'm glad the young people are here. And I want to say at the very outset with all the concern of my heart and all the compassion of my heart, and I say this at the very outset, if you set aside God's clear teaching of the Bible on sexual immorality for any new morality, whether propagated by atheistic professors or schools or apostate churches, I want to warn you with tears and pleading that you will suffer. You'll pay an awful price in this world. And I believe, according to the Bible, you will suffer the pains and punishment of hell in the life to come unless you find mercy in God's sight and the remedy, and the only remedy for sin and uncleanness as it's revealed in the gospel. Now this same Bible that promises peace in heaven and for the redeemed also, this same Bible that I look at tonight also warns whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap. And I don't want to be more pious in the Bible. Some people are more pious in the Bible. I don't want to apologize for what's in the Bible. And that's why I think these great old confessions, and I'm going to start off tonight by reading from the larger catechism, the Westminster larger catechism, and I think the principles here would be the same in the Heidelberg catechism, which is probably the two greatest catechisms in existence. And I want to read verbatim, without too much comment, just three questions and answers from the catechism before I begin tonight. This is question 137 in the larger catechism, and this is the question. What is the seventh commandment? The answer, the seventh commandment is thou shalt not commit adultery. The next question is, what are the duties? Now, notice this is the duties. This is not the prohibitions. There's two parts to all the commandments. And so as I read now, remember I'm talking about the duties. What are the duties required in the seventh commandment? And the answer is, the duties required in the seventh commandment are chastity in body, mind, affections, words, and behavior, and the preservation of it in ourselves and others, watchfulness over our eyes and all of our senses, temperance, keeping of chaste company, keeping of chaste company, modest apparel, and I'm not going to, I could preach a sermon on that tonight because I don't believe Fifth Avenue is ever meant to set the standard for God's people. And if there's anything that grieves me is to hear Christian women say, well, they're doing that this year. And I say, who's doing that this year? Fifth Avenue, but not Christian people necessarily. And that's not my subject, apparel, tonight. But I want to remind you that I'm not reading from Wesley's perfectionism. I'm reading from the Westminster Confession of Faith, and it has something to say about apparel, modest apparel. I don't know exactly what that is, but I do know that some apparel is not modest by any stretch of the imagination. And part of the duties is modest apparel, marriage by those who have not the gifts of continency, that is, self-restraint, the duty of conjugal love and cohabitation, diligent labor in our calling, shunning all occasions of uncleanliness and resisting temptation thereto. That's the duty. Now, the next question is, what are the sins? What are the sins forbidden in the Seventh Commandment? The sins forbidden in the Seventh Commandment, besides the neglect of the duties required, are adultery, fornication, rape, incest, sodomy, and all unnatural lusts, all unclean imaginations, thoughts, purposes, and affections, all corrupt or filthy communications, that's the dirty stories you listen to, all corrupt and filthy communication or listening thereunto, wanton looks, imprudent or light behavior, immodest apparel, prohibiting of lawful and dispensing with unlawful marriages, allowing and tolerating of stews. Now, you don't know what that is, probably. I better tell you, because you can't find it in any new dictionary. You'd have to get an old-world dictionary to find out what a stew is. That's nothing but a brothel, a house of lewdness, of ill repute that was connected with steam bands. The allowing or tolerating of stews or resorting to them, entangling vows of a single wife, undue delay in marriage, having more wives or more husbands than one at the same time, unjust divorce, desertion, idleness, gluttony, drunkenness, unchaste company, lascivious songs, this is not Wesley's perfectionism, lascivious songs, books, pictures, dancing, stage plays, and all other provocations thereto, or the acts of uncleanness, either in ourselves or others. Now, tonight I want to say that this is a very difficult subject that I have assigned myself, that I feel that we have a very great need in our day for somebody that believes the Bible to say something about it. We need much wisdom, as I say it. I need much wisdom because it needs to be said, some things, very plainly, yet reverently and respectfully, and that's not easy. It needs to be said with faithfulness to warn and educate and to woo. It needs to be said with fervency, with compassion and concern and clearness and cleanness. It must be said with concern, not just scolding people. Sometimes I've seen people advertise they're going to speak on sex and they bring in all the magazines of the bookstands and wave around all the filthy literature. That's not my purpose tonight. I don't have any such thing. I've got a Bible and a few quotes from what's meant to be respectable magazines, and I don't have any quotes from Playboy or anything like that. I don't have anything to incite sins. I'm trying to kill sin, not trying to excite it and stimulate it, and so it's not my approach whatsoever to do it that way. My subject tonight is of a razor edge. It's very narrow between love and lust. I believe it's a narrow line between vice and virtue. And fact is, it cannot always be walked with words. And fact is, we cannot always know in ourselves, in our own hearts, to make a clear distinction whether it's love or lust or vice or virtue. Now, if you think, when we think of the seventh commandment tonight, if you think of the seventh commandment, the only thing you think of is sexual acts and immorality and lasciviousness and licentiousness, you're missing the whole part of the seventh commandment. Because the seventh commandment, my dear, has to do with the home, and it has to do with the marriage. It has to do with children. And if you close your eyes tonight just for three seconds, you can think probably among your own relatives, among your friends, if you think tonight of the homes and the children that tonight are in an awful condition and are suffering in this world already because of the violation of this, and the men and women whose lives have been ruined because of the ignorance or the violation of the seventh commandment, you won't think it's anything dirty, you won't think it's anything funny. You'll think very soberly and very seriously if you think of the people that are hurt and pained and suffering tonight and the children and the home and the godlessness. You won't think of this subject as unclean, nor will you think of it as unnecessary. You'll say, thank God somebody's at least trying to say something about this sin that's prevalent in our nation. And if God Almighty doesn't judge this world and this nation for the sexual immorality in our age, he'll have to raise up Sodom and Gomorrah and apologize for destroying it with fire and brimstone for the same kind of awful sin. So I say when we think of this sin, don't think of just lasciviousness and sexual immorality, think of the homes that are ruined, the children, and as we progress if you'll think in that way, you won't have any problem making this a holy hour together tonight. I asked a lawyer friend of mine not too long ago when I was thinking about the seventh commandment, I said, in your opinion, how many divorces are connected with the seventh commandment either in ignorance, because some of the divorces are a result of ignorance of the duty to the seventh commandment as well as the prohibition. And I said, how many divorces do you suppose are connected with either ignorance of the duties of the commandment or violations of the commandment? And he said to me, I suppose I'd be pretty accurate if I said 98% of the divorces are somewhere connected with the seventh commandment. Now that's pretty high, isn't it? I don't know if that lawyer was right or whether he wasn't, but I kind of believe he ought to know something because he observes these things, that's his business. Now, I want to ask you, but there's a little smoke that I'd like to try to clear out of the way at the outset. And I want to ask you a question. Where did sex come from? Did you ever stop to think of that? Did you ask for it? Did you create it? And I want you to know at the very outset that the God who knows all, the God who is perfect in love, perfect in purity, perfect in holiness, he ordained it. Oh, don't be more pious than he is. I say, stronger than that, not only did God ordain it, but God commanded it. Did you ever realize that the very first commandment in your Bible is found in Genesis chapter 1, verse 28? And it says this, Be fruitful and multiply. And if you can be fruitful and multiply without sex, you see me afterwards. I don't know anything about that. I ought to learn something about that. But the very first mandate of God's Holy Word is be fruitful and multiply. It's commanded. It's not a sin. Sex is not a sin. It's nothing to be... And not only that, I want to add right at this point, not only sex is not a sin, but the desire for sex is not a sin, because you didn't ask for either one. The desire for sex is not any more than the desire for food. You didn't ask for a desire for food, but you got it. It all came in the package. You got it. Didn't you? Now I say it's God's mandate. Genesis 1, 28. God created the need, a built-in desire. And God provided for that need just the same as He provided food for an appetite. Where do you think you got your appetite? Did you create your appetite for food? Why, you didn't create it. It was built in. And I want to say not only did God create and build in the desire, but He also wrote the directions and the rules. He also wrote the directions and the rules. Now, we hear a lot about sex education in our best magazines. That's why I say to young people, somebody said, well, I don't think I want to hear about that. I said, well, you're hearing about it whether you want to or not. The only thing you're not hearing about it is in the church. You're not hearing about it from worldly, godly mothers, as you are. You're not hearing about it from godly preachers. You're not hearing about it from Bible-believing people who are interested in your soul who believe in the world to come. You're hearing about it not only through filthy literature, the sad part about our day and which makes it a distinct difference of our day. Not that we always didn't have filthy literature, filthy pictures, filthy thoughts. We always had that. The big difference today is now we're hearing about it from sources that are respectable. Sources of high places. Not in some filthy kind of a way, but we're making some of the things sound respectable. A doctor friend of mine, a medical doctor, a dear friend of mine, sent me four pages out of a magazine just this week. In fact, you probably get the magazine in your home. I don't get it, but it's not some filthy magazine. It's not too good. I'm not too obstruct on it, but it's a magazine that's acceptable. And I don't doubt it's in half the homes here. And I'm not speaking against the magazine. It's Look Magazine of 11-1566. And it had in it Dr. Sweden's New Battle Over Sex. And I want to tell you here was the top people in the nation. I'll quote some of them in a little while. The top people in the nation in the educational realm and in the health realm. And there's not any mention of sin. There's no mention of results. Even preachers. Totally silent. I want to quote a couple of those preachers after a while. And here are the people and the kind of standards they set. Christ is not mentioned in the whole article. Hell is not mentioned. Judgment is not mentioned. The authority of God's holy law is not mentioned. And it goes on to say after ten years of compulsory sex education that still the unwanted pregnancies and the venereal disease rate is higher than ever before. After ten years of compulsory sex education. Why is it? Because they have no standards. Even though they're respectable people. Not Christians by any means. But respectable people. They have no standards. They have no authority at all. For instance, the chief medical officer of Sweden. The chief medical officer of Sweden on the Royal Board of Education. This is what he said. We're trying to find a moral principle that will be acceptable to everyone. The whole article is about sex. So they're trying to find a moral principle in the area of sex that will be acceptable to everyone. And he said there is one. And I thought, boy, he's going to say the Bible. You know what he said? He said, you don't hurt your neighbors. That's the principle. You don't hurt your neighbors. Reverend Storm, the Lutheran minister in the same article, believes that young people should be helped. Notice this. Helped to make their own decision about sex. There are reasons for abstinence, but they are not as strong as they once were. Now, God's holy law has not changed in 1966 or in 1466. It hasn't changed in iota. The holy command of God is, thou shalt not commit adultery. May I give you one more quote? Dr. Malcolm Trotty, the senior officer of the National Health Board. The other fellow was the Educational Board. The senior officer of the National Health Board said this. Which is better? For your daughters to sleep with an unknown boy under a fig tree or for your daughters to sleep with a boy known to you in your own house? And if you were parents in this country, you would have to answer that question, implying that your daughter is going to sleep with somebody somewhere. And I don't have to go to Sweden for that. I got my hair cut the other week and my barber, the fellow I've been talking to about Jesus Christ for years, tells me he's not even in the church. He's out of the church. Tells me about his son going steady with a girl and he's upset he had to go to visit her parents because the parents allowed them to sleep together. And this fellow is not even, they were in a church, an evangelical church, the parents. Now this isn't hearsay. This is something that happened to me. Now you're going to wonder why I think we ought to talk about it. And let me tell you. First of all, I believe in sex education because the Bible does. The Bible is full of instruction and education and it's more than the birds and the bees, which is what most parents stop there if they go that far. And I say to you tonight, Christian, hear me. Every Christian should want sex education. But three questions, please. Three questions, please. And this is the questions you ought to ask when you even think about education in this area. Number one, who's going to do the educating? Number two, what's the motive behind the education? And three, what's the standard for the education? What's right and what's wrong? Now if you approach it on that, and that's just the approach I want to take tonight. First of all, who's going to do the educating? Or maybe I should say, maybe I'll do it backwards. What's the motive for the education? To make sin more easy, the whole article that I just quoted, the whole article was to solve pregnancy problems, to solve venereal disease problems, no mention hardly, or they did say something about the moral problems, but that was so far down the line, and they didn't have any morals to begin with. So I say, what's the motive for the sex education? To make sin more easy, to encourage sin, I read an article in the same magazine months ago about two schools in Washington, one decided on some sex education and the other didn't, and the one that formulated and put into practice sex education, they cut the legitimate, they cut the illegitimate birth rate in 50 percent, they cut it in half the first year. But did they stop the sin against God Almighty? Did they stop the damage and the hurt to the neighbors and to themselves? There was a motive to assist people in sinning and running their lives, ruining their lives, running them to the ditch both here and hereafter. Young people hear me, there's a great text in the Bible that I hope you hear me tonight in passing, it's Galatians chapter 6 verse 7 and 8, it says this, Be not deceived, hear me tonight, hear God's word tonight, be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he reap, for he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that sows to the spirit shall reap life everlasting. And whatever you sow, whether it's in this area or other open rebellion against God, I live in a college town and this year it seems all I've heard about was symposiums on the new morality. And I asked the question that I asked the radio man the other day, what's wrong with the old morality? I got a Bible here that sets morality as high as it can possibly set. High. There's nothing better than perfect. Is there anything better than perfect? This old David said, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. Now when I have the highest, the purest, the most perfect morality you need, no debate. And I wouldn't think about even, I don't think a Christian ought to enter any debate about new morality. I think the fact that he even goes to debate the subject, he's already compromised, because there's no debate about it. There's no debate on whether it's morality. That's settled. It's not a debate. And a Christian has no business to debate the new morality. He has the morality of the Bible. What's wrong with the old? And the truth of all these things, they don't want better morality, but they want freedom from any morality, freedom to sin and be comfortable in it. That's what they want. It's proved in my town. I don't know if you live near a college or not, but if you do, you'd see it proved. And I say, young people, hear me tonight, behind every one of God's thou shalt not, there are two things. And if I didn't believe this, I'd quit preaching, or trying to preach, and I'd throw away my Bible. And it's not only this commandment, but every commandment in this Bible. Young people, behind every one of God's commandments are two things. One is His glory, but that's not all. The other thing is the good of man. You're good. You know, when Mother says to the little child, honey, don't touch the stove, it's hot, thou shalt not touch it. Behind that shalt not is the loving care and the loving concern of a mother's heart. And behind all of God's thou shalt not is not some mean old God that's trying to make life miserable, but behind thou shalt not is a loving God that cares for your life here and hereafter. And before you complain about God's thou shalt not, you better stop and think. Behind that shalt not is a loving concern for your soul and your body and your marriage and your home. You want to see a beautiful home and a beautiful marriage? I'll show you one. Follow me to where somebody has kept the rules that God has laid down. Follow me to the home that knows something about God's principles and God's rules, and I'll show you a happy home like tonight. Follow God. Take me there. Now, I said, yes, the first thing, the motive. We want to know the motive for the education. Why do we have all this business of sex education? In our schools and in these articles, not once have I found one article in the most decent magazine, Serbian Post or the Reader's Digest, these good magazines, not once have I found where the pure motive is for the souls of men as well as their body. Not once have I found, or may be, not once do I find where the real concern is sin against the Holy God and sin against the clear revealed will of God and the consequences of that awful sin. I haven't found that as a motive. Now, my motive tonight to talk about this is for your soul as well as your body. My motive is for your home and for your marriage, not just to see that you can sin more and get away with it and have ease and comfort about it. Well, now the second thing, so much for the motive. I say you ought to be interested in Christian mother, you ought to be interested in sex education for your children, but you ought to want to know what's the motive behind it. The second thing you ought to want to know is who's going to do the educating? Who's going to do this educating? Will it be God-fearing, Bible-loving, holy, Christian men and women or a bunch of godless, atheist, pseudo-sex specialists who have no standard of right, no standard of wrong, no standard of vice, no standard of virtue, no standard of sex, no standard of sanctity? Is that who it's going to be? I say, who's going to do it? If it's God-fearing people, God-loving people, then you ought to hear them, what they've got to say. I say to you tonight, with all seriousness, if there's no heaven, if there's no hell, if marriage means nothing, if the home and sanctity and chastity mean nothing, then their education's all right and you and I ought to join them and help them. If there's no heaven, no hell, no judgment, if home and sanctity and marriage mean nothing, then we ought to join them and help them. But if there's a heaven and there's a hell and the home means something and sanctity means something and marriage means something, we ought to start wanting to educate them from the Bible. Last year, one of the University people from some people would go to him with serious problems. They ought to be able to go to the chaplain. And you know what he'd tell them? He'd say, well, whatever feels right for you, I can't make her for you because he had no standards. Talk about self-expression. No standards. All he said, make your own standards. That was the essence of his counsel. Serious. He wasn't blaspheming. Well, he was blaspheming, but he wasn't doing this to be suspicious. He wasn't doing it to be wise. He had no standard. He had nothing to appeal to. He had nothing to say, thus saith the Lord, because he'd already departed from the Bible. And that's why I say you ought to be interested in who's going to do it. Many of these educators are serious people. They're sincere. They just want to make you and I as Christian parents and Christian leaders in the church and deacons and elders. They ought to challenge us. They say some things that are true. Let me give you a quote from one of them out of another magazine. Not a bad magazine. The magazine is on your shelf today. This is a quote I got over. It said this, Behind every ignorant teenager is a shy or ignorant parent. And then it goes on to say, In the last fifteen years we have lifted all forms of discipline and control and substituted nothing for them. We have given our children the keys to our cars and money to use to go to motels. And if you stayed as many motels as I do, you'd see what I'm talking about. Money to go to motels. Meanwhile, mother and father are off working or golfing or playing bridge. Few are the rules about anything, including sex. That's a quote. I read about the public health officer, the health specialist in Washington, D.C., asked a gathering of 624 educators to indicate whether they had first learned about sex from their parents. And not one of the 624 educators raised their hands. Now who is educating our children? Who educated you? Who educated me? Painfully to say, we couldn't say. But I want to say this. They're getting educated. Popular magazines like the article I just quoted, if that's all they hear about sex, where the Bible was not mentioned, Christ was not mentioned, God's holy law was not mentioned, they take that as pretty authentic. So I say, who is educating your children? Popular magazines? TV? Hollywood? Godless professors and teachers? Un-Christian sex educators? These pseudo-sex peddlers? Or other teenagers? But let me tell you one thing, parents. You can be sure of this. They're getting educated. Don't be a fool, mother. Don't be a fool, father. They are being educated. And I want to tell you tonight, I believe with all my heart that God never meant for sex ignorance. I believe God was for sex education or He wouldn't have put so much in the Bible about it. And the Bible is full of it. I'm going to remind you a little bit of it tonight. So I say, parents, be sure of one thing. Somebody's educating your children. They're getting the facts of life. There's only one sad thing about it. They're not getting all the facts, and they're not getting them straight. They're getting educated, yes, with a strange silence about God, education without God, sex education without God, without God's standards, without God's commandments, no warnings of the world to come, no warnings about the hell on this world that comes from people who violate God's whole commandments. But be sure of this. Parents, write this down. Write this down tonight. Take a minute over this, will you? Hear me on one thing. Your children are being educated right now. And you don't have to think that way until they get to their teens before they start to get educated. I tell you that. Young people, if your parents won't educate you, come to some godly pastor, go to your Sunday school teacher, go to somebody and ask them. Somebody that cares for your soul as well as your life and happiness here. But be sure to get it straight. Have the right motive. Be sure the person that talks to you about these holy things, be sure they have the right motive. Be sure you have the right teacher and be sure you have the right textbook. You'll save yourself many heartaches. That's why I asked the preacher to try to get the teenagers out tonight. You'll save yourself many heartaches if you hear of God on this holy season. But I say in the same breath, beware of pseudo-sex educators who do not tell you about the next world, who do not tell you about hell, who do not tell you about broken hearts and broken lives and broken homes and even broken pocketbooks. Solomon said in Proverbs, a man is brought to a piece of bread by a whorish woman, not to mention the disease, bodies, and the wrecked lives as a result of violation of this holy commandment. Now, I want to come back to Genesis because I want to come back to Genesis chapter 1, verse 28, because there's one thing more in the Bible that needs to be said, not only about the violation of the prohibition, but there's some duties. And I'm talking to parents now. I think one thing more needs to be said in connection with this verse. The Bible says, Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. I think we can learn from this verse of Scripture that sex is not evil, but it's the first mandate to the human race. I hope you remember that. Sex is not evil. The desire for sex is not evil. The fact is, if you never have it, the desire, there's something wrong with you. You're not normal. So the sex is not evil. The desire for sex is not evil. You ought to get these two things straight so you don't get over-pious about what God is playing on. Now, hear me tonight, mothers and fathers. I say first I learned from this verse that sex is not evil, but it's the first mandate to the human race. That is the first commandment. Now, the second thing I want to say, and I want to say this plainly. From the rest of the Bible, it is clear that sex is not only for appropriation. That's Catholic, wicked, devilish. Caused a lot of problems. I say sex is not only for appropriation. If you look with me, and this is the passage I'm not going to spend a lot of time on. I just want to let you know it's in the Bible. If you look with me, 1 Corinthians chapter 7 verses 1 to 5, I want you to read because apparently they had a question about sex. And I say don't be more pious than God and don't apologize for what's in the Bible. Now, it's obvious that they were writing to the apostle to inquire something about sex because here's his answer. He said, Now concerning the things whereunto I wrote unto you, it's good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, verse 2, to avoid fornication, not only for appropriation, nevertheless to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and every woman have her own husband. Now listen to this. This is duty. Let every husband render unto the wife two benevolent and women likewise also the wife unto the husband. And he's so strict about it that he warns them about even not having relations without mutual agreement. He goes on to say, The wife hath not power over her own body, but the husband hath likewise also the husband hath not power over his body, but the wife. Now, this is the verse. Defraud not. Don't kid yourself. Don't kid yourself. Defraud not one another, except it be with consent for a time that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer and come together again. Why? That Satan tempts you not for your incontinence. Now, the Bible is not silent, and I want you to, I want you to give you that verse to let you know that the Bible is very clear that sex is for the Lord and procreation. Hebrews chapter 13 verse 4 says this, and I'm reading from God's Holy Word, and since it's holy, I'm not bishing. God's Holy Word, Hebrews chapter 13 verse 4, it says this, Marriage is honorable in all. Marriage. Marriage. That's the rule. Marriage is honorable with all in the dead undefiled, but lawmongers and adulterers God will judge. God will judge. Now, it's obvious from that text that those people of Corinth wrote to the great apostle about sex, and about sex advice and counsel. I say to you again, by way of repetition, God created the appetite, God gave the mandate, God ordained and supplied the means for fulfilling the mandate, and shows there's more than for procreation, it's for His glory, it's for our good. Just the same as food. Now let me tell you about something about it. Just the same as food, God created an appetite. That baby of His was born with an appetite, and it started to squawk as soon as it was born, until He was satisfied. That created desire for food. But God didn't bring babies into the world and just create that awful desire for food. He gave us milk and potatoes and bread and meat and so on to supply the needs. And, not only is it to keep me alive, but there's pleasure and enjoyment in eating the right kind of food. But let me tell you about the abuses. Suppose a mother decides she's going to give her little baby Coca-Cola and fills the bottle instead of with milk, fills the bottle with Coca-Cola, and she gives the Coca-Cola morning, noon, and night. That baby will die. Not because it's a sin to have an appetite, not because she wasn't getting food, but it wasn't regulated. It wasn't in the proper way. Rules for food. Suppose I just started to eat pie for breakfast and pie for lunch, it would be food and I'd be satisfied. I'd look worse than I do now, and it's getting bad enough as it is. Tell me, you ought to obey the rules a little bit on this thing. I believe it's to be controlled. I really do. Now, God gave me the appetite, but he didn't tell me to eat pie for breakfast, dinner, and supper. There's some rules about diet. There's some rules about food. That's why people are concerned that their children while they're growing up have a proper diet. Hey, little boy, that's why mama said, eat those peas on your plate. That's why I said it. You eat those peas, and that's why they say, eat that spinach, and you get mad and holler and scream. You know why? Because sometimes they love it, and they want to see it. Not only do they recognize you have a need for food, but the right kind of food, and there's some rules about it. Now, the same thing is true about sex. The appetite's proper, but there's some rules. In young people, marriage is one of those rules. Sex is not a sin. Desire for sex is not a sin. God has ordained and given both the rules and instructions. And not only that, He's given, in His blessed book, examples, good examples. The Bible is full of good examples. I think a profound example of chastity is in Joseph. A profound example of the sense of the Bible demands for chastity. You study Joseph, and you'll see chastity in all its grandeur, written across the life of Joseph. And it ought to encourage you. Not that he wasn't tempted, but you see, chastity in all its grandeur, written across his life. Young people, you might get in some tight places, just like that. And on the other hand, the Bible gives examples of chastity. The Bible gives bad examples, too. Look at David, child of God. But I want to tell you something. Don't do like Hollywood. They parade his sin with Bathsheba and tell the people about the sin and remind us that the Bible has a sin in the Bible. But you know what they don't do? You should never think about David's sin unless you turn to Psalm 51. And that's a long way back. Don't think he committed the sin one day and he wrote Psalm 51 the next. I've got reason to believe that there was a period of time before that. Don't you ever think of David's sin without thinking of Psalm 51. You know what it says? Oh, God, you read Psalm 51. I'm not going to quote it to you tonight. But don't think about David's sin. Why you see the consequences of it. Why are they there? Well, Romans 15 4 will tell you why they're there. This is why it's there. For whatsoever things are written aforetime, Romans 15 4, were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hoped they were written for our learning. Now, I say again, God ordained the appetite of conjubial love. God provided and ordained the means for that satisfaction, marriage. God gave the rules which make it holy, which make it healthy, which make it harmless. But don't forget the rules. He also gave the warning of sex sin. That's why God loves it so much. I believe that's one of the reasons why that God is so strong on mixed marriages. Why believers are not meant to marry unbelievers? Because the seventh commandment has to do with the home and marriage. And sex is a small part of marriage, although it's an important part. But it's a small part of marriage. We are not only one flesh, but we're one mind, and we're one religion. I know cases right now. I'm counseling with two people right now where their religious life is interfering with all of their life, including their sexual life. Religious differences affect sex life, the same as other differences affect sex life. You're not interested in sex when you're fighting all the time about religion or something else. Know how wise God was when he said, Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. That's for our good and for his glory. Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers. God's concerned about your life, young lady. God's concerned about your life, young man. God's concerned about your home. That's why he said he loves you. He's concerned about all of your life. Now, I'd just like to read tonight a few scriptures without comment. And I want to say a few, two more things. I'm going to let you go in about an hour. I want to read a few scriptures because I said to you a while ago, the Bible has a lot to say about this. And I just want to read you, and I'm not even going to give you the references. If you want them afterwards, I'll give them to you. But I want to buzz down some references, and I just want to read them without much comment. Just from the Bible. I've got about eight of them, and I want you to hear them. But maybe before I read them, I should say this. Adultery without repentance damns the soul. 1 Corinthians 6, 9. I'll tell you that. I say to you tonight, young people, the fire of lust will bring the fire of hell if it's not repented of. I say to you tonight, the harlot's breast will keep you from Abraham's bosom. Don't forget that. Don't forget that. And I want to deny who would be foolish enough for a cup of pleasure to drink a sea of wrath. For a cup of pleasure to drink a sea of wrath. Many will do it, and they have done it. And Proverbs 9, 18 says this. Her guests, speaking to the bad woman that says this, her guests are in the depths of hell. Proverbs 7, 26, She hath cast down many wounded, yea, many strong men have been slain by her. And I say, few there are that are entangled in this sin of adultery that recover. Thank God for David and some more. But many do not recover. Now let me read you some of the few of the threatenings and warnings contained in God's old book about this thing. Speaking plainly without compromise. Let me just start from, I just want to take from Genesis, and I've picked out a few, and I'll wind up in Revelation. But it's the whole through the Bible. But I'm going to start out with the ones in Exodus. Thou shalt not commit adultery, for this is a heinous crime, yea, it is iniquity to be punished by the judges. Another one. For it is a fire that consumeth the destruction and would root out all mine increase. By the means of a lowish woman, a man is brought to a piece of bread, and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life. Can a man take fire in his clothes and not be burned? Can one go upon hot clothes and his feet not be burned? So is he that goeth into his neighbor's wife, whoso toucheth her shall not be innocent. Whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding. He that doeth it destroyeth his own soul. A wound and a dishonor shall he get, and his reproach shall not be wiped away. His reproach shall not be wiped away. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators, adulterers, effeminates, nor abusers themselves with mankind shall inherit the kingdom of God. But fornicators and all uncleanness, let it not once be named among you as become a saint. Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know that no whoremonger, unclean person, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you, O young people, let no man deceive you with vain words. Because of these things cometh the wrath of God on the children of disobedience. Be ye not partakers with them. Whoremongers shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. For without are whoremongers. Now, just a few words about the second commandment. The seventh commandment forbids three things I want you to see. All acts of uncleanness. One. The seventh commandment forbids all fleshly lusts which produce these acts. Three. The seventh commandment forbids all practices which produce these acts. And God warns us in his holy book by precept, by example, by judgment, both temporal, that's now, and eternal. I think even you young people could close your eyes tonight and think of the homes of your relatives and think of the homes that tonight have great pain in them, great sorrow, children suffering, children being raised without a mother, children being raised without a father. All contributes its root to God's holy commandment. So see, I want you to see tonight that this sin is connected with reprobation. And I want to give you a couple more scriptures. I want you to see that this sin that I'm talking about tonight is connected with reprobation. Would you turn in your Bibles to Romans? Incidentally, I don't think we're far from this here. Would you turn to Romans chapter one, the very first chapter of the book of Romans? I've gone pretty fast tonight, but I wanted to cover a lot of territory. Romans chapter one. It talks about, in verse eighteen, it talks about the wrath of God being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Now, I want you to skip down to showing some of the sins as a result of this awful apostasy. Verse twenty-four. Well, let me go back a little. Verse twenty-one. Because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imagination, and their foolish heart was darkened. Why? Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. And what did they do? They changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like the corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. And what happened? Wherefore, I said reprobation. Wherefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness, through the lust of their own heart, to dishonor their own body between themselves. God gave them up. That's reprobation. He didn't kill them right then. He gave them up. Let alone verse 25. What did they do? They changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Verse 26. Get it. For this cause, God gave them up. What to? God gave them up unto vile affections, for even their women did not change, for even their women did charge them, change the natural use into that which is against nature. Verse 27. And likewise also the men. Sexual immorality, that's all it is. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman buried in their lust one toward another. Men with men, working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of the error which was made. Verse 28. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge. This is the verse I thought about when I read that article the doctor sent me. I thought about this verse because the whole thing was God-less, Christ-less, church-less, Bible-less. And I thought of this verse. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to reprobate minds to do those things which were not convenient. Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, cowardice, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whispers, back-biters, haters of God, and you keep on reading and you have it. I say God gave them over. God gave them over to it. The other night we looked at the tenth commandment, we looked at the rich young ruler because our Lord Jesus Christ put his finger right on that man's sin. His sin was not adultery. His sin was his money. Tonight I want to remind you of another Bible character. And a great preacher of God's word put his finger on his sin. And his sin was not money but his sin was the seventh commandment. And if you look with me in closing at Herod and John the Baptist, that faithful preacher, look at Mark chapter 6 for a minute will you please? Talk about this one sin. Oh it's not that we're not tempted and tried. Here's a man that made a peace treaty with it. Look at Mark chapter 6. I read, notice verse 20. You know if we just read verse 20 we'd say Herod was a pretty good fellow. I want to tell you some good things about this man. You say oh he was just a wicked old man. Well listen to this verse 20. Herod feared John. You see it? Knowing that he was a just man. So he had some respect for the preacher. And holy. He knew that John the Baptist was holy. And then I read he observed him. So Herod observed the preacher. He knew him. He knew he was a just man. He knew he was holy. He observed him. And when he heard him, notice he wasn't only a hearer of the word, it says he did many things and heard him gladly. I hope you notice those things as we look at that verse. Herod heard him gladly. He observed him. He reverenced him. He feared him. He recognized him as just and holy and righteous. Therefore he knew he was telling the truth. He was not only a hearer of the word but the Bible said he did many things. He had one problem and it wasn't money. If you look at verse 18, your finest problem. John the Baptist put his finger on his spear. Herod did many things but he wouldn't get rid of the woman. He was living in incest. He was married to his sin. John the Baptist faithfully said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife. One sin. One sin unrepentant. One sin that you sign a peace treaty with. I don't care if it's your money or adultery or some other sin. But I say one sin that you sign a peace treaty with it. That's all you need. That's all we have right here. He made a peace treaty with his sin. He made a peace treaty with his sin. Now I don't want to stop there. I don't want to tell you where Herod appeared in this scene again. This time not before the preacher John the Baptist. This time Herod appeared before Jesus Christ himself. This time he appeared before Christ. And if you look at Luke 23 verse 8 and 9 you'll see a very sad commentary of a man who made a peace treaty with his sin. Oh, if you've got a sin and confess it and fight it and war against it, that's one thing. But if you sign a peace treaty with it, that's another. I want you to see this. Luke 23 verse 8 and 9. And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad, for he desired to see him for a long season. Now here he is. When Herod saw Jesus, he was glad, for he desired to see him for a long season, because he had heard many things of him, and he had hoped to have seen some miracle done by our Lord. And then I read this sad sentence. And Herod questioned him in many words, but no decision. But he answered him nothing. The silence of Jesus Christ. I believe Herod was already reprobate. And he turned his back on God's prophet who faithfully put his finger on his hand and said, I'm married to it. He might be married to another sin. But I would remind you that it's an awful thing. The silence of Jesus Christ is an awful thing. You know, I read some sobering verses in the first chapter of Proverbs, and I'm going to read them for you tonight. You think this doesn't happen today? I believe there are a lot of people walking around reprobate. I believe there are people going to church every Sunday already reprobate. Comfortable in their sin. Comfortable. Satisfied. They've signed it. The gospel rolls on and rolls off all in the same breath. They're satisfied. Doesn't affect them. No conviction. Not even bothered. Oh, honey, if you're bothered about your sin, thank God. If your sin disturbs you, thank God. It's an awful thing when a man's conscience stops accusing him. I think that silence of Christ before Paris, when I read that and he answered him and he answered him and he answered him and he answered him and he him and he answered him and he not in repentance. Just to try to get Christ as a fariscape or something. Then shall you call upon me, but I will not answer. They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me. Why? Why? Why? The next verse tells you. For they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would none of my counsel. They despised my reproof. Therefore shall they eat the fruit of their own way. And many a man write tonight, November 1966. He's eating the fruit. He's eating the fruit. He's He's eating the fruit. He's eating the fruit. He's fruit. He's eating the eating the He's eating the fruit. He's eating the fruit. He's He's It's because God's interested in your home. Old Bishop Layton, the Archbishop of Glasgow, said, if you would be freed from the danger of this awful infertility of the sins of the Seventh Commandment, he said, make use of the following rules. And I'm going to give it to you. It'll only take me three minutes. I just want to give you the rules. If you would be tonight freed from the danger of the infertility of the sins of the Seventh Commandment, make use of these rules suggested by that great old Archbishop of Glasgow. This is what he said. Young people and old as well, be sober and temperate in your diet. Withdraw the fuel. One. Two, be modest and circumspect in your carriage. Guard your ears and your eyes and watch over your deportment. Beware of undue and dangerous familiarities with any upon whatever pretense, soever it is. Three, be choice in your society, for there is much in that, said the old Bishop. Four, in general, flee all occasions and incentives to uncleanness, including your reading. He didn't say that. I put that in there. In general, flee all the occasions and incentives to uncleanness, but the solid cure, to hear this, must begin within, otherwise all outward remedies will fail. Then, because this is true, the solid cure must begin within. If you're here tonight unsaved, hear the rest of this. Then, seek a total, entire change of heart and find the sanctifying spirit of grace within you. Labor to have a heart possessed with a deep apprehension of holiness and purity of God, and then of his presence and his eye upon all your actions and thoughts. Acquaint yourself with spiritual enjoyment. Acquaint yourself with spiritual enjoyment. Increase in the love of Christ. Alas, said the Bishop, alas the misery which this sin, here forbidden, has produced. May God be pleased to sanctify my carpenter efforts tonight, to bear my heart and soul to you from God's Word. And I'm going to leave it with God and his Spirit. Let's stand and be dismissed. O Lord, you said, if the foundations be destroyed, what will the righteous do? And our Father, tonight, many of us as thy people cry out, we see the foundations of the home being destroyed. We cry out with the psalmist, what shall the righteous do? O our Father, that's why we flee to thee in prayer. That's why we call upon thee to give us power and grace from within. We are not exempt, the strongest of us, we're not exempt from this awful temptation, this awful fall which could befall any one of us. And therefore we cast ourselves upon your mercy, therefore we cast ourselves upon your power, and ask you to give us more of thy Spirit. Engage us more in holy thought and holy living. O dear Lord, tonight, help us to guard our eyes and our ears and our tongues and our behavior and our dress. Help us to guard all of these by the power of your Spirit. O for these dear young people here tonight, Father, have mercy, have mercy, when even our schools to some degree have turned away from holy truth, have turned away from any standard. O God, have mercy upon us. Send thy Spirit to protect these who are young and those who have not been saved and do not have the power from within to fight. O send your Spirit to save them by your grace. Bring them to a saving knowledge of our blessed Redeemer. O Lord Jesus, hear us as we call upon thee. Come, come we pray thee. Send thy Spirit to assist us. Lord, with all these our petitions, we would not forget, blessed Savior, to ask you to forgive us of our sins. O forgive us of every sin, in words, in deeds, in gestures, in thoughts. Hear us, for thy name's sake. Amen.